No real key departures from the Roughnecks this year. Bruce Codd is a great defender who stayed out East this year - but the Riggers should get more games out of Manning this year - who only played in two last year because of med-school.
So this team is arguably just as good as last year's regular season champion squad.
The biggest issue could be that all the teams around them improved - largely on the basis of Boston folding. Edmonton is a strange case - they traded Brodie Merril (who I think is one of the most complete players in the NLL) for Iannucci - but can't get him to sign a contract yet. That's a huge factor in their season - they paid a big price to get a true sniper but don't have him in the fold yet. Hopefully we get a better NLL BOA this year.
The league has made some really smart rule changes this year - that should make the game even faster and generate more of the back and forth type of low that fans love. Possession will still be the name of the game but I think we'll see more stretches where teams are running the floor and exchanging grade a scoring opportunities.
Only one NLL team won't make the post-season so the regular season is really just a tune-up.
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